10 MAKARATZIS v. GREECE JUDGMENT 45 is very powerful and has a great force of penetration. I don’t know who said that he was armed and that we should fire in the air.” 6. Mr Ntinas “Kiriazis and I were on duty as instructed at Neos Kosmos. We received a message to go to Siggrou, where a car which had hit other cars and hadn’t stopped when signalled to by a traffic warden, etc., was being chased. We went to Siggrou and followed the driver. At Interamerican he drove through a red light and continued towards the coastal avenue. At Trokadero we saw a lot of police cars and flashing lights. We remained behind him and, at Flisvos, we saw the car that had been turned upside down. We were left a bit behind. At the junction of Posidonos and Kalamakiou Streets we lost him completely. We asked a civilian, who told us that he had turned right and was heading towards Kalamakiou Street, and we headed that way. I heard some gunshots that I thought were coming from the junction of Kalamakiou and Posidonos Streets. Artificial traffic congestion had been created. The control centre issued a warning that the man was armed and dangerous. We stopped 100 metres to the right of the petrol station and heard gunshots. We didn’t know whether they were coming from the victim or the police officers because we couldn’t see the car. We took cover and heard him being called out of the car. We fired some intimidation shots in order to confuse him, because we knew that a police officer would try to arrest him.” 7. Mr Kiriazis “Ntinas was my chief of crew. We received a message and chased the car, getting close to it at the traffic lights at Amfitheas Street. At Trokadero we were falling behind. The driver went through the roadblock that had been set up. At Flisvos we saw the car that had been turned upside down. There was a problem with the traffic and we were left behind. At the junction of Amfitheas and Posidonos Streets a taxi had been damaged. Further down we heard gunshots. Some civilians told us that the driver had turned left. We followed him. When we got to the petrol station we heard gunshots. Some colleagues were heard shouting, ‘Get out’, ‘Be careful’, and someone else said, ‘Shoot to intimidate him’. So I fired two shots to intimidate him. I have served for fifteen years. I have never seen anything like this. During the chase we heard from the control centre that the individual was extremely dangerous and possibly armed.” 18. The witnesses’ statements were taken down as follows: 1. Mr Ventouris “I am the driver who chased the victim. Mahairas, Souliotis and I serve in the Flying Squad. The victim’s car was considered suspicious. We consider suspicious anything that moves around the American embassy. One of my colleagues, who was not carrying a gun, signalled the driver to stop. My other colleague and I waited at a distance, outside the car. Instead of stopping, the driver continued towards my colleague and almost hit him. Then he drove off. We considered him dangerous, and had to chase after him. At first we lost him for a while, but then we spotted him again near the War Museum. We waved to him to stop. He hesitated for a while, looked as if he was about to stop, but then drove on. At this point we started chasing him with the sirens on. He reached Parliament, crossed into the oncoming lane and continued